As we steam out on our way to the Galápagos, a quick walk around our ship before dinner reveals that land is no longer in sight. At noon today we began heading southwest after leaving Puntarenas, Costa Rica in the distance. The days in port were spent installing equipment in the ship's laboratories and mounting the MR1 sonar system on the stern. With the help of the ship's crew we have everything ready to start the cruise.

During the three days it will take for us to reach the Galápagos, we will familiarize ourselves with the pitch and roll of RV Roger Revelle and learn which stairs lead to where. Yesterday we spent unpacking crates of computer equipment, building tables and securing everything down to make sure nothing falls from the motion of the ship at sea.

Yesterday evening a thunderstorm blew in from the west with great strikes of lightning cracking through the atmosphere around us. This is the rainy season in Costa Rica. Looking out over the horizon today low lying clouds with their sheets of water could still be seen in the distance as we left. We are traveling with boobie birds and porpoises riding our wake. But before us iguanas have also traveled.

The wind and water currents created a biological link between Costa Rica and the Galápagos Islands. The marine and land iguanas that lounge on the volcanic rocks of islands in the Galápagos evolved from the same species that weigh down tree limbs in the Central American jungles. It is fantastic to imagine that we are connected both to the biology and the geology of the Galápagos Islands, more than 700 miles away.

Our mission, two years in the planning, will be to better understand the volcanoes of the Galápagos Islands.